How sad it is, that the Torre de los Ingleses,
A ‘Big Ben clone,’ as Lonely Planet calls it,
Has now been changed to the Torre Monumental,
Standing in the renamed Plaza Fuerza Aérea Argentina,
No longer held in pride and friendship
With Britain. How miserable and mean
Was the Falklands War.
Centuries of hassle over those damned islands
In a different era, when control of them
Was so important for trade,
Navigation, and Empire - both for Britain and Spain;-
Should not have resulted in 1982
In an old kind of war in a new kind of world.
Those habits and reflexes should have been controlled;
Are we always going to have disputes thus resolved,
By the clash of force and armed might,
As if, when two neighbours dispute a piece
Of land in their garden, the solution were
For them to pick up a sharp axe each
And fight to the death of one, over it:
Is this the answer to infinitely complex questions
Of political justice - just to bash,
As of old, with guns and killing?